News

Threat to Langport (1645)

23 August 2013

Thank you for giving the Battlefields Trust the opportunity to comment on this revised application.

The area in question lies to the east of the English Heritage registered site of the 1645 Battle of Langport, a nationally important action during the final Parliamentarian advance through the West Country at the end of the first Civil War. Evidence of the importance of Langport can be seen in the fact that it is one of only 45 English battlefields to be registered by English Heritage and one of only two in the county of Somerset.

While the proposed site lies just outside the battlefield, as currently registered, it was an area which undoubtedly played an important part in the battle, being on the route of the parliamentarian advance and offering a good view of the royalist positions on the opposite slopes both then and today.

It is highly likely that it will contain important archaeological evidence relating to the battle (including musket shot and cannonballs) which may help confirm troop positions or, as has happened at other battlefields such as Naseby, lead to a re-interpretation of the action.

In addition it is our opinion that construction on this particular site, even in its revised form, on high ground immediately behind the place where the Parliamentarians are believed to have deployed, would have a major impact upon the character of the historic landscape and the essentially agricultural setting of the battle. We believe that would result in substantial harm to the setting of the registered battlefield, its archaeology, and have a detrimental impact on landscape character contrary to local plan policies EH9, EH12, EC3 and ST6 of the South Somerset Local Plan and policies within the National Planning Policy Framework.

The Battlefields Trust is keen to help make the most of the battlefield’s undoubted educational and recreational potential, as it has done at similar sites throughout the country. We believe that there is a genuine opportunity to raise the profile of this important and, as things stand, attractive battlefield and in doing so create financial benefits for local businesses through the visitors it would undoubtedly attract.

The Battlefields Trust has raised over £4,000 specifically for this purpose and is working in partnership with the Langport & District History Society both to stage a regular series of walks and talks (three have already been confirmed for next year) and to create a waymarked Battle of Langport Trail, with supporting information in the form of information boards either along the route, or located elsewhere. The Trust is currently negotiating visitor access to fields adjacent to the proposed site and local residents have suggested that Downslade Lane, a hedged path running along the eastern boundary of the area, might well form part of a future battlefield trail. Clearly the proposed development would change the rural character of the setting into an industrial one. As such it would have a negative effect upon the value of the site as an educational and recreational resource. As I have stated before I believe that this was the reason used by the Planning Inspectorate in 1998 in rejecting a proposal for landfilling in an area to the south of the site now in question.

For these reasons the Battlefields Trust opposes the proposal to erect a solar array on the land in question.

The Battlefields Trust has sent a letter to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council Planning Committee members explaining why the Trust disagrees with the planning advice the Committee has received in respect of the proposed autonomous vehicle planning application for Bosworth battlefield and why battolefields are important heritage assets

South Oxfordshire District Council's new Local Plan proposes to build 3,500 new houses on Chalgrove Airfield, the eastern part of which covers about one third of the Historic England registered battlefield at Chalgrove (1643)

There was a burglary at Talana Museum last Thursday night/ Friday morning and much of the Museum’s medal collection was stolen. Details are on the Museum's website. Please contact the Museum - details below - if you see any of these or have any information on their whereabouts.

Battlefields Trust Chairman, Frank Baldwin, and National Coordinator and Board Secretary, Peter Burley stood down from their respective roles following the 2015 AGM after many years of generous and vital service which has ensured that the Trust has met its aims of preserving, interpreting and presenting battlefields as historical and educational resources.

Following a request by the Battlefields Trust, Northampton Borough Council has provided a further update on efforts to mitigate potential damage to archaeology caused by the stripping soil at Delapre Golf Club on part of the nationally important registered battlefield at Northampton.

The Battlefields Trust has objected to an application to build houses and associated infrastructure on the battlefield at Clifton Moor (1745), a candidate for the last battle to be fought on English soil.

The Battlefields Trust will be appointing a development officer in support of MC800. The role requires a good communicator with the ability to lead and motivate volunteers in interpreting the impact of 1215 and the Barons Wars and building capacity for the organisation.

Please note that Dr Catherine Hanley's talk on historical fiction which was due to take place on Weds 23 October has been postponed. Details of the new date will be posted on the events pages once finalised

The Battlefields Trust congratulates Richard Buckley and his team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester on their excellent work to discover the remains of Richard III and identify the remains as definitively his.

The Battlefields Trust is a charity. Our aim is to preserve, interpret and present battlefields as historical and educational resources. Over the last twenty years the Trust has fought against development on or around battlefields in the UK and overseas. It has installed information boards to improve presentation of nationally important battlefields to the public. In addition, the Trust has undertaken research to better understand battlefields and developed contacts with academics working in this area.

We are working on a programme of major projects covering battlefield preservation, presentation, interpretation, and development for educational purposes. We are seeking to recruit for several positions. Most of these are unpaid, and are likely to be of interest to someone seeking to undertake charitable work as part of a portfolio career or as a retirement activity. Currently we can only offer work experience or a showcase for expertise. Of course, if we are successful in our funding bids we may be in a position to offer project work in various aspect of battlefield heritage management.

PAID WORK - FUND RAISERS

We are looking for fund raisers willing to sell advertising space or our commercial services on a commission only basis or obtain local or national corporate sponsorship on a payment by results basis within the guidelines of the Institute of Fund-raising.

VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR BATTLEFIELD PROJECTS

We are planning three substantial battlefield projects covering the next few years. All of these will need volunteers to help to run the projects and promote them to communities.

WARS OF THE ROSES

This is a project to extend the investigations started at Bosworth to cover other Wars of the Roses battles and sieges (upward of 15 sites).

MAGNA CARTA TRAIL

We plan to set up a Magna Carta Trail covering as many as possible of the dozens of sites associated with the battles and sieges of the C13th wars that led to the signing of Magna Carta and secured it within English government.

GREAT WAR BATTLEFIELDS OF BRITAIN – THE FIRST BLITZ

The Centenary of the Great War is an opportunity to document, preserve and interpret the heritage of the world's first strategic aerial bombing campaign, the German air war against Britain 1915-18.

The Battlefields Trust is disappointed to learn that the English Heritage Yorkshire Region has not objected to the proposal to permit a permanent position for caravans and outbuildings next to the historic battlefield of Towton.

The Battlefields Trust has been asked to comment on a proposed development at the Delapre Golf Complex on the English Heritage registered battlefield at Northampton. This development is separate from the one at Eagle Drive relating to the development of sports pitches on the same registered battlefield which the Trust has been fighting, but is likely to be similarly detrimental to any extant archaeology and the character of the battlefield. The Trust's response can be found in the pdf document in the link below.

A copy of the article on the battle of Barnet in 1471 which appeared in the September Issue of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society Newsletter No 33 is available on the Battle of Barnet web page in the resource centre.

The Battlefields Trust is delighted to announce that its new lunchtime lecture series will be hosted by the Fusilier_Museum in the Tower of London. An exciting line up of published military historians and archaeologists will be discussing everything from the English Civil War to The Tommy’s experience of Iraq.

The latest Discovering Places newsletter contains a useful report on heritage tourism and a tool kit. Anyone organising events coinciding with the Olympics should look at the advice and guidance it contains.

4 November 2009
Four years of intensive historical, topographical and archaeological research have finally borne fruit as a team led by Glenn Foard of the Battlefields Trust and funded by Leicestershire County Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund has solved one of the great mysteries of English military history and succeeded in locating the site of the battle of Bosworth.
Read More